The phenomenon known as Thanskgivukkah is almost upon us, and we've curated a selection of prayers from some wonderful Rabbis that are part of the HuffPost Religion family. Their original blessings capture the combined spirit of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. As you gather around the table with loved ones, we at Huffington Post Religion would like to wish you a blessed holiday.
Holy One of Blessing, may all the different peoples, cultures, traditions and lifestyles that constitute America work together to share what we have with those in need.
- Rabbi Laura Geller
A Thanksgivukkah Prayer Poem for Believers and Non-Believers Alike
Convergence. Alignment. Holiness.
Dear God, we call on you in many names. Some even deny you in many names. No matter. All want the same things – to feel whole, to know purpose, to apprehend meaning, and experience love.
As calendars collide this November 28th yearnings, and our capacity to realize them both for ourselves and for others. We have more, and are capable of more, than we often realize. We share more with others than we often recognize.
American. Jewish. Human.
Whoever we are, wherever we are and whatever we believe, let us make the most of this once in many lifetimes opportunity.
- Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield
On Hanukkah and Thanksgiving
Grateful for our gifts and grateful for our past,
We cherish our spiritual inheritances:
The pilgrims who journeyed,
The Maccabees who fought,
The generations who struggled and sacrificed to preserve their memory.
As Americans and Jews, Dear God, we are doubly blessed:
Given so long a legacy to celebrate in so sublime a land.
So we light a candle, set the table, say our prayers
And declare the miracles – of our tradition, our freedom and our future.
We rededicate ourselves to live so that we might be worthy
Of the greatness bequeathed to us,
And merit the joy of handing it on to generations.- Rabbi David Wolpe
On this special day of Thanksgivukkah, we feel so blessed. We celebrate the gifts of two joyous holidays instead of one.
Let us be thankful for the blessings -- Both the blessings we receive and the blessings we gift to our family and to our friends.
May the light that radiates reminding us of the Hanukkah miracle shed its light onto all for a joyous Thanksgiving as well.
As we gather around to kindle the Hanukkah lights, let us remind each other of our bountiful lives; our lives enriched by God's gifts.
Let us embrace our Jewish heritage as well as our American freedom.
And let the messages of Hanukkah and the traditions of Thanksgiving blend into a spirit of joy for us all.
May the Creator of All, the Source of Life, grant us health and happiness, peace and love.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this special day of Thanksgivukkah.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הַעוֹלָם שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה- Rabbi Jason Miller
We give thanks to the Creative Force that gives life, inspires connection, and fills us with the yearning to create anew. On this rare coincidence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, we feel particularly grateful for a holy day that tempers the radical pursuit of freedom with the ultimate hope of stability, peace, and love.
- Rabbi Joshua Stanton
Consider: Just as there is no job too big for God, there is no job too small. While the Declaration of Independence gives a nod to the deist notion that there is a Creator that has endowed us with inalienable rights, Thanksgiving expresses the theist sentiment that God is involved in day-to-day life. Chanukah celebrates that not only does God win our major battles; God even cares about the “little things” like one day of oil lasting eight days. God is not just Creator; God is Director... right down to the little details.
- Rabbi Shais Taub
Centuries ago, Israelites
escaped persecution,
celebrated survival,
established a holiday--
Chanukah.Yesterday’s travelers
praised their miracle of salvation,
celebrated freedom,
established a holiday--
Thanksgiving.Some 900 years ago
and now again,
those holidays met,
liberation and obligation,
Two events thanking G-d.Celebrated with family,
traditional tofurky served,
miraculous light inspiring,
responsibility and growth,
soulful gratitude expressed aloud,HAPPY THANKSGIVIKAH!
- Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz
Thanksgiving: stop everything and appreciate. Find gratitude - for life, love and even breath. Hanukkah: stop everything and agitate. Honor the sacred hunger for light in a world that bleeds with human suffering, injustice, loneliness and so much darkness. Thank You for the holy confluence this year of acceptance and non-acceptance, appreciation and agitation. And may this tension inspire wonder and wakefulness, hope and hutzpah in us all.
- Rabbi Sharon Brous
A THANKSGIVUKKAH BLESSING
O Great Spirit, Who in Infinite Wisdom has brought together Chanuka and Thanksgiving. Thank You for giving Christmas a break from the Jews.
May FOX News find a new enemy in the War on Christmas (Kwanzaa is on Dec 26th , just sayin’) and may Walmart workers freely call out Merry Christmas from behind every employee food collection bin.
As we dine in the light of a menorah on kosher turkey and on latkes with a shmear of cranberry sauce, we recall two great movements for religious freedom, American and Jewish, the combination of which yielded Groucho Marx, Joan Rivers, Mel Brooks, Gilda Radner, Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld and Sarah Silverman.
May we be blessed with more religious freedom and less religious certainty. May we be less inclined to laugh at others, and more prone to laughing at ourselves. May our leaders learn from our modern prophets – speaking in clubs and old films, on HBO specials and Comedy Central shows – who unite us in our humanity, humility and vulnerability.
May our tears of laughter allow us to be open and unsure, and may God bless all of us, who are just muddling through, making meaning as we can. And may our descendants celebrate the next Thanksgivika, in 77,000 years, in a world of laughter and joy.
- Rabbi Susan Silverman and rest of the Clergy and Comedians Torah Roundtable, Jerusalem, Israel. (Rabbi Ma’ayan Turner, Yisrael Campbell, Gary Rudoren, Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman, Cantor Iris Beth Weiner, Rabbi Barry Leff, Lauri Donahue, Rabbi Rich Kirschen, Dahlia Lithwick, Rabbi Sarra Lev)
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